Scientists recover the oldest wooden tools from a site in Greece

One is a spindly stick about 2 1/2 feet (80 centimeters) long that could have been used for digging in the mud. The other is a smaller, more mysterious handheld chunk of willow or poplar wood that may have been used to shape stone tools, according to research published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists think ancient humans wielded a whole litany of tools made from stone, bone and wood. But it's particularly difficult to find evidence of wooden tools today because wood rots so quickly. Such tools are only preserved in specific environments like in ice, caves or underwater.

The newest tools, found in Greece's Megalopolis basin, were possibly buried quickly by sediment and preserved by a wet environment over time. For years, researchers have found other remnants at the site, including stone tools and elephant bones with cuts on them. While scientists didn't directly date the wooden tools, the site is about 430,000 years old, which provides insight into the objects' age.

"I've always just been thrilled to be able to touch these objects," said study author Annemieke Milks with the University of Reading.

Human remains haven't been found at the site yet, so it's not yet clear who used the tools. The owners could have been Neanderthals, early human ancestors or someone else.

The site in Greece probably has more gems from the past that are waiting to be found, said archaeologist Jarod Hutson with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. But the unassuming appearance of these two new tools makes them harder to interpret.

"It's difficult to get excited about these because they don't strike you immediately as wooden tools. And we don't know what they were used for," said Hutson, who was not involved with the new study.

Other examples of ancient wooden tools include a set of spears from Germany and 300,000-year-old Chinese digging sticks that may have been used to harvest plants.

The new find offers a rare look into the varied collection of tools used to survive — a glimpse at a "little known aspect of the technology of early humans," study author Katerina Harvati with the University of Tübingen said in an email.